Welcome
Selena Wang, PhD
selewang@iu.edu
Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science
HITS 3071
410 W. 10th Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Dr. Wang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science at Indiana University School of Medicine. She has an interdisciplinary background in biostatistics and computational psychology, with expertise in developing statistical and computational methods for complex, high-dimensional biomedical and networked data. Her research advances generative embedding, scalable methods and software for high-dimensional networked data, and Bayesian inference for brain and protein networks, with applications in disease subtyping, brain–behavior linkage, biomarker identification, and disease pathway discovery, particularly in Alzheimer's disease and other psychiatric and psychological conditions. Her work has been published in leading journals, including Nature Methods, Alzheimer's & Dementia, Medical Image Analysis, Psychometrika, Psychological Methods, and Human Brain Mapping. Dr. Wang has been named a William H. Gates Sr. Fellow by Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative, a 2026 Research Career Institute in the Mental Health of Aging (CIMA) Scholar and a 2025 Research Education Component (REC) Scholar of the Indiana Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. Her methodological research program is supported by the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative and the National Institute on Aging.
News:
(August, 2026) Dr. Jaeyoung Lee has joined our team as a postdoc in August 2026. Welcome!
(August, 2026) Luling Altan has joined our team as a PhD student in August 2026. Welcome!
(September, 2026) Our team received 3.5 million NIH/NIA R01 funding for Personalized Medicine under the Co-evolution of Connectomes and Pathological Proteins, with Dr. Wang serving as Principal Investigator. Congrats!
(August, 2026) Congratulations to Yumeng Chen, who has started her PhD at Case Western Reserve University! We wish her all the best in this exciting next chapter!
(August, 2026) Congratulations to Huairui Wang, who has started his PhD at Michigan State University! We wish him all the best in this exciting next chapter!
(August, 2026) Congratulations to Gertrude Osei, who has started her PhD in Assessment and Measurement at James Madison University! We wish her continued success!
(Summer, 2026) Congratulations to Connor Cornelison, who has joined Indiana University as a software developer supporting high-performance computing! Great job and best wishes for his next chapter!
(Summer, 2026) Congratulations to Theyanesh Jayaprakash, who has joined Plutus as an AI Engineer! We wish him all the best in his next chapter!
(July, 2026) Ash Sharma presented the poster Proteomics signature of whole-brain microstructural integrity of white matter using LatentSNA at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. Great job!
(July, 2026) Gertrude Osei presented the poster A Psychometric Evaluation of the Cognitive Change Index in the Indiana Memory and Aging Cohort at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. Congrats!
(July, 2026) Our collaborator team Sweet & Lee presented the poster A Multilevel Modeling Approach to Network Diffusion in Alzheimer’s Disease at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference. Great job!
(June, 2026) Dr. Wang gave an invited presentation, Improve power of brain-behavior studies using LatentSNA, at the Organization for Human Brain Mapping 2026 Annual Meeting.
(June, 2026) Luling Altan presented Alzheimer’s Disease Subtype Identification from Spatial Tau-PET Heterogeneity Using Self-Supervised Deep Learning at the Statistical Methods in Imaging conference. Congrats!
(March, 2026) Dr. Wang was selected as a 2026 Research Career Institute in the Mental Health of Aging (CIMA) Scholar. Congrats!
(March, 2026) Dr. Wang presented Brain Resilience in Aging at the Research Career Institute in the Mental Health of Aging conference.
(March, 2026) Luling Altan presented the poster Bayesian latent space co-evolution model to explain AD progression at the ENAR 2026 Spring Meeting. Congrats!
(March, 2026) Theyanesh Jayaprakash presented the poster Alzheimer’s Disease Subtype Identification from Spatial Tau-PET Heterogeneity Using Self-Supervised Deep Learning at the ENAR 2026 Spring Meeting. Great job!
(March, 2026) Connor Cornelison presented the poster Sex differences in structural connectivity-based AD pathology in the Indiana Memory and Aging cohort at the ENAR 2026 Spring Meeting. Congrats!
(February, 2026) Our new paper The co-varying ties between networks and item responses via latent variables was published in Psychometrika. Congrats!
(February, 2026) Dr. Wang gave an invited seminar, Implementing Network Science in Generative Statistical Processes, for the American Statistical Association Statistics and Data Science in Aging Interest Group.
(January, 2026) Our new paper Latent space-based network analysis for brain–behavior linking in neuroimaging was published in Nature Methods. Congrats!
(January, 2026) Our collaborative paper Advancing global dementia research through equity and inclusion was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.
(July, 2025) Connor Cornelison presented the poster Sex differences in structural connectivity-based AD pathology in the Indiana Memory and Aging cohort at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
(July, 2025) Theyanesh Jayaprakash presented the poster Deep Learning Framework for Characterizing Tau-PET Heterogeneity in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Self-supervised Approach at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
(June, 2025) Xinzhi's first-author manuscript Cost efficiency of fMRI studies using resting-state vs task-based functional connectivity has been published in Human Brain Mapping. Congrats!
(June, 2025) Congratulations to Connor Cornelison, who has been offered the competitive INGEN4DS fellowship! Great job!
(May, 2025) Huairui Wang, Ash Sharma, and Anastasija Naumoski have joined our team as graduate research interns beginning summer 2025. Welcome!
(May, 2025) Congratulations to Xinzhi Zhang who has accepted an offer from University of Cambridge to start her PhD! Well deserved!
(April, 2025) Theyanesh Jayaprakash has been awarded the 2025 AAIC conference fellowship award! Congrats!
(March, 2025) A new network science method review paper has been published in Psychological Methods.
(February, 2025) Our team has been offered funding from the Alzheimer's Disease Data Initiative to support Artificial Intelligence technology development for AD.
(February, 2025) Dr. Wang was selected as a 2025 William H. Gates Sr. Fellow.
(January, 2025) Connor Cornelison, Theyanesh Jayaprakash, and Plamena each submitted a first-author abstract to AAIC 2025. Congrats!
(January, 2025) Visiting student Yumeng Chen has joined our lab. Welcome!
(January, 2025) Dr. Wang was selected as a 2025 REC scholar.
(January, 2025) We received internal IU funding to support methodology development from the REC scholar program via the IADRC.
(January, 2025) A new network science method review paper was accepted at Psychological Methods.
(November, 2024) A new paper was published in Alzheimer's & Dementia.
(November, 2024) Xinzhi's first-author preprint is out: Cost efficiency of fMRI studies using resting-state vs task-based functional connectivity. Congrats!
(October, 2024) Plamena presented a poster at the 2024 IADRC Fall Research Symposium titled "The Relationship Between Tau Levels in Functionally Connected Cortical Brain Regions and a Region’s Tau Burden". Great job!
(October, 2024) A new network science review preprint is out: Network Science in Psychology.
(October, 2024) A new social network method preprint is out: The co-varying ties between networks and item responses via latent variables.
(August, 2024) A new paper was published in Medical Image Analysis.
(August, 2024) Dr. Wang presented a poster Sex-specific topological structure associated with dementia identified via latent space network analysis at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference.